Planning my first PAII conference! Lets get this party started!!!

 Yeah righto, get everyone from the forum inn-doilied so Jay will know who you all are and can run at the appropriate moment when he sees you coming!  I got it all figured out...oh yeah  

Will someone bring me a doily? 

 Just look for the other innkeepers who are smiling and happy and cheerful, not the sourpussed arrogant ones, and you will find each other!  

(sorry did I let out the fact that I had innkeepers here this Fall who were arrogant and sourpussed? Followed by delightful fun fantastic ones? NIGHT and DAY!!) SMILES EVERYONE! LIFE IS GOOD.

Even I have doilies!  Might have to make me a Kate Middleton doilie hat! 

 So we are supposed to wear a gnome to identify ourselves? I'll have to go out and find one now...

Riki

For all of you out there who have hesitated, all the bloc of conference-rate rooms have been sold.  For just a little bit more, I have a suite with kitchenette and living room at the Residence Inn for Monday thru Wednesday nights.  Although I am not a "party animal" under most circumstances, I might make an exception in this case.

From looking at the schedule, it sounds like the best night for a get together would be Tuesday night, except for that would conflict with a Select Registry function.  Monday night would be the next best bet if everyone gets to town in time for supper.  The best option of all might be Both Monday and Tuesday.   There's a coctail party til 7 on Monday night, a reception in the exhibition space all evening Tuesday.

Why don't we toss around ideas here on the forum for the next couple of days.  I'd be happy to open my suite up for Innmates to gather on Monday night or Tuesday night before we go out on the town if that appeals more than standing around in the lobby with your gnome waiting to bump into other gnomes. 

I will post my real name next week for a day, then edit it off.  Anonymity does have its drawbacks.

Samster where in Georgia are you?

FYI I have our online availability blocked off in Jan as I may be going to the conference, not sure yet, as mentioned it it both kids bdays and our anniversary.  But I want to let you all know I will have rooms available here for innmates who want to stop along the way.  We are 25 miles East of I-81 exit 143 off I-81 Roanoke VA.

 Thanks Em.

Resurecting this thread:

Update on the conference page:

Embassy Suites Offers:

• Complimentary made to order breakfast daily for overnight guests
• Complimentary self parking for overnight guests
• Complimentary airport shuttle for overnight guests
• Complimentary wireless internet in guest rooms

No more mention of it being one connection.

I'll be heading down with my dad from Ohio. We'll probably take I-77 south.

And we're 35 miles west of I-85 in southern virginia.... we're another stopping off place, too!  Not sure if we're going.

 http://www.charlestonwatertaxi.com/

If the weather is nice. Two years ago we were in Charleston that same week and it was 75 and gorgeous.  Dolphins all over the place.

 I just wanted any one who was hesitating to remember that it is for business purposes.  We are just a very friendly touristic business.  

Great Sunshine,  we'll meet up and have us a convoy!   breaker   breaker  good buddy.

Remember folks you can write this off for your business.

I just shot craps! Even with the discount $389 + travel puts it out of my league. I have to save that for the trip to Germany in May. Have fun, Folks. If I am enroute for anyone - you are welcome to "motel" stop as my guest which means the rate is Thank you so there is no misunderstanding.

OK, so if I read this correctly, Aug 30 and 31st you are offering a discount, So we should wait til then to register if we want this big discount? And it will reduce the cost to $389 per person?

 Yes the wording is iffy.  Complimentary WI FI in guest rooms? That is not what it sounded like.  Not even close to that. Maybe we can get the list of local McDee's and others with free wi fi 24/7.  do'h.  

 Anyone with recommended lodging please post it here.

Thank you Jay, I completely understand the whole "conference" concept, I just thought, jeez let's give these Inns a push who are there.  Dh attended and I.T. Conference and the hotel charged 9.99 for one time use of the high speed internet, so I thank you for letting us know in advance that this hotel is not offering free internet, and updates on if they will change that.

I understand the frustration some are expressing here with regard to 1.) the complimentary internet connection at the Embassy Suites, and 2.) the fact that we’re not promoting or utilizing the Charleston-area B&Bs as a lodging option.
 
Let me explain some of the basics of planning a conference for 500-800 people. First, you should know that PAII is known as a “space hog” in the meeting planning business. This means that the amount of space we need for our educational sessions and trade show is A LOT compared to the number of sleeping room nights booked through our event. We have up to 8 or 9 workshops running simultaneously – so we need a lot of classrooms. We need a giant ballroom for general sessions. And we need enough space for 100 10x10 exhibit spaces. That’s a lot of space. The problem is that we have so many couples and people sharing rooms that the relative number of rooms we can commit to in a contract is low. Most large hotels that can accommodate our meeting will give us most of the meeting space for no charge or relatively small charge, if we commit to a certain critical mass of room nights, as well as a pretty large food and beverage minimum. In our case, our F&B minimum is usually $100,000 for the Innkeeping Show.  We typically commit to a minimum of 1,300 total room nights spread over 4 or 5 nights. 
 
If we were to promote staying at B&Bs (and there are at least 50 in the Charleston metropolitan area), we would have to reduce the minimum room block in our contract – and it would be a risky guessing game for us, because we have no idea how many attendees would actually stay at B&Bs. If we lowered our room block commitment, we might have to pay more for the meeting space or might be required to raise our F&B minimum. Well, actually, we WOULD have to - there's no question about it.  If we agreed to that, we would have to charge higher fees to the attendees and risk having fewer people come due to increased costs.
 
Most attendees highly prefer staying at the host hotel, because all they have to do is ride the elevator down to the event. The Embassy Suites that is adjacent to the Charleston Area Convention Center is about 12 miles from downtown Charleston – anyone staying at a B&B in Charleston would have to have their own transportation and might have to deal with parking issues in downtown, depending on the B&B and what space they have on the property. (Before anyone gets upset that we’re not actually having the meeting in downtown Charleston, please know that there is no property in the historic area of Charleston that could accommodate a group our size, and we will be bussing everyone downtown one night for a big party at the Charleston Visitor’s Center on Meeting Street – so we will spend some time in the historic area).  The rate we negotiated is $119 – far lower than we’ve historically negotiated at conferences. We did this because we wanted to be sure to keep costs as low as possible for attendees. This was a big reason we chose the Charleston Area Convention Center and Embassy Suties – the other modestly-priced cities we looked at east of the Mississippi were $30-60 higher per night. With complimentary internet and breakfast in the morning for $119, we were pretty pleased with this deal.

I’m asking my meeting planner about the “One complimentary wireless internet connection in guest rooms per day.” To me, that is confusing.   If there is more than one laptop in a room, it doesn’t make sense to me that only one of them would be able to connect. I’m investigating this, because it seems like a strange policy. That’s one of the minor things we can probably still fix, even though we have a contract with them. We might just need to explain that we have a higher number of folks who share rooms than what they’re used to. I’ll try to update everyone soon.

So, while I appreciate the sentiment to patronize the Charleston-area B&Bs – trust me, I’m the biggest advocate for our industry -  it’s just not practical. We do ask local innkeepers every year to offer our attendees special rates for folks who want to come early or stay late. It works out nicely, because our conference always ends on Thursday afternoon, and many of our attendees often stick around for the weekend to explore and enjoy a little extra time away. 

We haven’t posted the prices yet, but the rack rate will be $489 per person. But, we will have a big 2-day sale on Aug 30-31 with $100 off for all registrants, and subsequent sales throughout the fall with more discounts, but not as big as $100 off. Mark your calendars now, but we will of course send reminders. The rate will include lunch each day, two receptions and a big Lowcountry feast in downtown Charleston. We’re providing more F&B than ever before.
 

Is there a price for admittance to this yet? I can't seem to find anything other than the date. If we go (the B&B has not called me back, yet) we'll make a vacation out of it.

 I have a tshirt with gnomes on it.  

Well, I e-mailed my cousin to ask her son if he would mind a houseguest in January, I am scheduled to go to Germany for a month (courtesy of a cousin who loves there) in May and need to save as much $$ as I can. He is giving me my plane ticket but I need to have admission & meals money (he has a camper for our lodgings as he shows me Europe). Mrs General O told me I need to go to Gamish and to see at least one castle.

We gathered with the doilies at the Homestead. What will be our identifier in Charleston?

OK, I have called to make my rez for Jan. However, I had to leave a message, so I have no idea if anyone GOT my info.

what was worse..........is that when I joined and for many years in their membership literature they had stated a member to member discount would be apporpriate.

Oh sure....printer that is in our membership.....would not honor the member to member discount.......was more expensive than a non member one town south.

A drafter and inspection company........I had gotten them involved with my church to draft up plans for a parking lot........they did the preliminary stuff free.......the cost to draw up the plans and estimates was not discounted for the church let alone that a chamber member was involved.........our church had gotten a better deal from an outfit in the next county......they provided the preliminary free as well as a discount for the draw up and estimates

Insurance ?...........everything that the member quoted me was at a minimum 20% higher than was I was currently paying.......they could not do any better.

A while back I had contacted one of the member lawyers.......bastard sent me a bill for a 5 minute phone conversation.........and this was a guy that constantly talked about member to member discounts.

As long as it is they receive the discounts.

The big shots in the chamber are the worst offenders

and to this day I notice that the business listings in the chamber is getting smaller.

edit:

I do believe in the shop local idea.........and I do.........first place I go is local.....first place I look for anything is local

 All very well and true but it is still an INNKEEPING conference.  Doing an injustice to not allow the region where the conference is held to promote the inns of that area.  I stick by it.  I realize all the rest, stay onsite, and all that, I appreciate the conference being in a place where there is something to do, again, spend money add to the tourism $.  I think a one time per day connection to the internet is a pile of . That is why I said, Innkeepers won't treat you that way!

so true Joey......."Shop Local"

I have been a member of our Chamber many years.....sporadicaly went to meetings......like 2.5 years ago I had gone to a meeting.....the topic of doing business with fellow members came up......in the middle of the discussion I stood up and called them all hypocrites.....Told them I had been a member for more than 15 years.........and only 1........yes 1.........member had ever contacted me for an estimate and work. That was before I had joined.......and it was cause of him that I joined.............since joining.....not one of you in this room has asked or called for any kind of an estimate..........and I know for a fact that several of you are using illegal contractors and I point right at a couple of them.

Room went silent.........I sat down..........after what felt like 3-4 minutes of silence..i got up and left..........they lost 30% of their membership the following year

Here is a list on B&B's in Charleston SC - can't we support B&B's? Fill them up first? This is always a huge irritation for me, the whole SHOP LOCAL mentality need not apply aye?   PAII should have a list FIRST AND BLOODY-FOREMOST of B&B's in CHARLESTON.  How about MEMBER INNS in the least.  I understand they just put the innfo out so people can start their planning...

Calling ALL Charleston B&B's put a special rate up there for Innmates and we will stay with you in January.

• http://www.bbonline.com/sc/charleston.html
• http://www.charlestonbb.com/
• http://www.bnbfinder.com/fastFind.php?action=fastFind&fastQuery=Charleston,+South%20Carolina&queryType=location&x=0&y=0&choose=City&state=US_SC&cityId=Charleston&radiusSelect=25&mdy=&los=1
• http://www.iloveinns.com/charleston-south-carolina-bed-and-breakfast.html